


Quarantine in Yaz's Flat

by DystopianDuckie



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: COVID, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Post-Episode: s12e10 The Timeless Children, Self-Isolation, eventual-thasmin, hand-holding, thasmin, there-will-be-kisses-later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-04-12
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:36:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23315503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DystopianDuckie/pseuds/DystopianDuckie
Summary: The Doctor has only recently got out of space prison and now she is stuck in a 5 room flat with the Khan family while the UK is in lockdown.Sonya is being her usual self and struggling to always be kind to their guest (because isolation sometimes brings out the worst of us) and the Doctor is struggling with some self-worth issues. But Yaz and her parents are there to help and in true Doctor Who spirit everything is going to be okay.
Relationships: The Doctor/Yasmin Khan, Thirteenth Doctor/Yasmin Khan
Comments: 37
Kudos: 111





	1. Fidgeting

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Doctor Who fic and my first fanfic in a while but I love 13 and I love Yaz and I needed to do something creative during the current situation.  
> Obviously themes of covid-19 and self-isolation so be careful if you don't wanna read that.  
> Also a very minor reference to Yaz's past struggles so be careful.

The Doctor was stuck inside. She had been stuck inside for a week. A whole week in Yasmin Khan's flat with nothing to do and nowhere to run. How did humans live in flats with five rooms? The TARDIS had hundreds, or thousands, maybe they were infinite - she didn't know - but definitely more than _five._ And one of them was the bathroom, so that didn't really count. 

"You're fidgeting again," Yaz chided, pulling the Doctor's hand into her own and squeezing tight.

"Sorry," the Doctor mumbled, "I didn't realise I was tapping that time." 

"It's alright," Yaz reassured her. Her smile lit the Doctor up inside, calming the panic ever-so-slightly. 

"I mean it's not," Sonya said from the other sofa without looking away from the TV, "she's been doing it all week and it's driving me insane." 

"Sonya," Najia and Hakim chided in unison, as they usually did. 

"I know these are difficult times love but you need to be polite to our guest," Najia said. 

"Is she really a guest if she's been here for a week already and we can't actually ask her to leave?" Sonya asked, her eyes flicking back and forth between the Doctor and her parents. 

The Doctor felt herself tense up and the urge to run came back in full force. They didn't want her here, she shouldn't be here. She shouldn't be in their house eating their food and making this even harder for them than it had to be. She should have just stayed on the TARDIS alone. She was better off alone. 

_Lies._

That little voice again, in the back of her head. The voice that had kept her going in that prison cell, that had urged her to open up to Yaz about her pain. She hated that voice but deep down she knew she needed it. 

"Sonya," Hakim said again, pulling the Doctor briefly from her thoughts. His voice was soft - the opposite of Sonya's - but he never seemed weak. The Doctor respected him for that. "If she's not our guest then she's part of the family," he smiled across at the Doctor. She almost managed to smile back. "And we look after our family, no matter what."

He looked at Yaz then, briefly, and something dark passed over his eyes. The Doctor wasn't the only one who had suffered. 

"Come on," Yaz said, squeezing her hand again and pulling the Doctor off the sofa, "we'll hang out in my room for a bit, give us all some space."

"You don't have to," Sonya started, but Yaz cut her off." 

"I know that," Yaz laughed, the sound easing some of the tension in the room, "but I also know that we all need some time apart if we're going to get through this. It's only been a week." 

"Okay," Sonya nodded. "And I'm sorry," she said to the Doctor, "I was just lashing out. Of course you're welcome here." 

"Sure, it's fine," the Doctor said, but she could barely even convince herself with her voice, let alone the others. She was so tired of pretending everything was okay. 

"Keep your door open," Najia called as they reached Yaz's room. 

Yaz stopped and rolled her eyes at her. "I'm an adult, mum," she said, guiding the Doctor inside and shutting the door. 


	2. Heart to heart(s)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slight content warning for intrusive thoughts and feelings of not belonging. Let me know if you think any tags or anything need to be changed.

Yaz shut the door behind them and the Doctor let some of her mask slip. Not all of it, not yet. Yaz didn't need to see her that vulnerable yet. She didn't even want to see herself that vulnerable yet.

"Ignore Sonya," Yaz said gently after a moment when the Doctor still hadn't moved or spoken. Her blond hair was in her eyes but she didn't move to brush it away. It was longer than it had been, almost brushing her shoulders after her time spent trapped in that cell. Some of the Time Lords had kept time with their hair growth but she had never had the knack. 

_Probably because you aren't a Time Lord._

There were too many voices in her head. She was going to have to do something about that one. 

"Doctor?" Yaz spoke again, reaching her spare hand out and nudging the Doctor's chin up so she had to look at her. 

The Doctor squirmed, scrunching up her nose, but it did feel good to look at Yaz again. She had missed her. 

She realised they were still holding hands. How had she forgotten she was holding hands with Yaz? Granted, they had been doing it more often lately. She had found physical contact difficult in this body, gentle touches making her squirm and pull away. But something about the time spent in the prison cell alone, the vision of that lost little girl and her countless faces haunting her, mixed with the kindness and open love in Yaz's eyes when she had finally found her again, had reminded her how good a hug could feel. Or a handhold. It was still a little difficult, but she was trying, and the more she opened up the more she found herself wanting. 

_Especially with Yaz._

"Yes," the Doctor replied, far too late, when she realised that Yaz was still looking at her. 

"She didn't mean it," Yaz said. 

It took the Doctor a moment to remember what they had been talking about. Her brain tended to flick between far too empty and far too full, often without much warning. Just as she expected it all came flooding back, Sonya's words, her own internal pain. 

_You don't belong here._

Shut up.

_You don't belong anywhere._

"I think she did," she said quietly, hoping that speaking out loud might drown out her thoughts. "But that's okay, I understand." 

"We can talk about it," Yaz said, moving towards the bed and sitting down. "If you want to."

The Doctor followed her across the room, already missing the contact of Yaz's fingers entwined with her own. "I don't want to make this harder for you, Yaz." It was the truth, always the truth, or at least part of it. 

Yaz looked affronted at the very thought. "Come here," she gestured to the bed and the Doctor took a cautious seat beside her. Beds were funny things, and she wasn't really sure what the rules were. "You never make anything harder for me," Yaz said softly but firmly. "Difficult things happen - admittedly more when I'm around you - but you always do your best to make them better and most of the time you succeed."

The Doctor's mind darkened at the thoughts of the times when she didn't, but she tried not to focus on those right now. 

"I don't always get it right," she said instead.

"But you try," Yaz replied, taking her hands again and holding them tight. "And right now we try by being together and taking one day at a time. We are stuck in this flat for who-knows-how-long and Sonya is hard to handle at the best of times," Yaz smiled and the Doctor's hearts lifted a little. "It isn't going to help that you've just been through a lot and you never seem to catch a break. So maybe this is your break."

"It's a global pandemic, Yaz," the Doctor said, confused. "It's not a holiday." But confused was good, confused meant she was thinking. Engaging. She could already feel the good parts of her brain whirring to life again, if weakly. 

"But it's a global pandemic that you said you couldn't help with," Yaz pointed out. The Doctor couldn't help but see the flicker of disappointment in Yaz's eyes as she said it, remembering their conversation from a few days ago when she had explained why she couldn't help. "So your job is to stay home and limit the spread."

"I should be doing more," the Doctor protested. 

"But if you have to sit this one out then take the time to rest, to try and relax as much as you can."

"You have to go out there," the Doctor said, trying hard not to say that she got to go out there. Yaz had been coming home from work the last few days looking haggard and refusing to say much about it other than that people were on shorter strings than usual. Still, the universe beyond the flat called to her. Called her to run. 

"But knowing that you are here with my family makes that easier," Yaz said. "Knowing that everyone I love and care about are safe and accounted for when I have to go and deal with things makes it a lot easier. Mum, Dad, Sonya, Graham, Ryan, _you_. You're all family, and I like knowing that you are all looking out for each other." 

"So you don't think I'm overstaying my welcome," the Doctor asked, deflecting from the huge wave of emotions that was washing over her. She was starting to feel some of her old self - one of her old selves? - coming back and it felt good. She liked hearing Yaz tell her that she mattered.

"If I had to choose between you and Sonya, I'd choose you in a heartbeat," Yaz told her without hesitating, laughing a little. "But you're both important and you'll both get through this." 

"I missed you," the Doctor said matter-of-factly, "I can always rely on you to know what to say." 

She hoped that Yaz knew just how much she had missed her, and just how much she mattered. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably not the best as I was writing it tired and I haven't read through it. But I think I'm gonna leave it there until tomorrow. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed and as always stay safe.


	3. Yoga with Yaz's Mum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yaz leaves the flat for her shift and Najia keeps the Doctor occupied with some yoga.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone is still doing okay. I watched my first live-streamed yoga class the other day (I normally go to a class) and I thought it would be funny for the Doctor to do some (although this fic kept going for ages with no actual yoga in it haha). And more Najia is always a plus in my book.

"Sorry, did I wake you," Yaz whispered as she got a mug out of the cupboard and put a teabag and spoon in it. 

The Doctor wiped some sleep out of her eyes, surprised that Yaz had managed to find her asleep for once. She usually woke up long before everyone else. "What time is it?" She asked, smiling slightly at how sleepy she sounded. Maybe Yaz was right, maybe she did need a rest. 

"A little after five," Yaz answered, filling the kettle and flicking it on. The Doctor wondered whether the noise would wake the others up, but they would probably be alright. She had, after all, been sleeping on the sofa and she was a light sleeper anyway. 

"That late, huh?" The Doctor said, moving to sit up off the sofa. "I should be getting things done by now. Is there enough water in that kettle for me? I could murder a cup of tea. Well, not murder, I'm not really about murder. I'm more of a pacifist. But you know that. You're Yaz. You know everything." 

Yaz laughed, pulling another mug out of the cupboard and making the tea without even turning around to look at the Doctor. She heaped four spoons of sugar into the Doctor's cup, just how she liked it. 

"Sounds like you are getting back to your usual self," Yaz said, smiling and walking over to the sofa. She nudged the Doctor's legs out of the way and perched in the space left behind, her back brushing against the Doctor's feet. It tickled. "Here's your tea." 

The Doctor took the cup and downed half of it in a single gulp. Yaz laughed again, quietly - given the time of day - but the sound lifted the Doctor's spirits. If she was being entirely honest Yaz's reactions were part of the reason she drank that quickly. She would do anything to make Yaz laugh. 

"Thanks Yaz," the Doctor said. "And yeah, I'm feeling a bit better today."

"Good to hear," Yaz replied, taking a sip of her own tea. "I've got to head out to work in a bit. Hence the early start." 

"What shift are you on?" The Doctor asked, trying very hard to suppress the fear that bubbled up at the thought of Yaz going out there with everything happening. She would be fine. Yaz would be fine. 

"Six till two," Yaz told her, "I'm stationed outside Aldi with Markus."

"Who's Markus?" The Doctor asked, not really sure why it mattered so much. "Is he nice?" 

Yaz laughed again, and the Doctor couldn't quite understand why. She was looking at her weirdly as well. What was that about? 

"Yeah he's nice. I haven't worked with him long but he seems alright." Yaz paused to take a long sip of her tea. "What are you planning on doing today?" 

"Oh you know me, lot's to do," the Doctor said, before suddenly realising that she didn't actually have anything here to do. God, she missed her TARDIS. She could happily tinker with some subsystems or take a trip out to... well, anywhere would do. "Might go on my walk, might talk to your mum and dad for a bit. I think Hakim mentioned a jigsaw." 

"That sounds like Dad," Yaz agreed. "You'll be alright though, won't you?" 

"I should be worrying about you," the Doctor protested, "not the other way around. I've just got to sit in a flat all day. You've got to go out there and police in an apocalypse." 

"I'm good at policing though," Yaz said, "and you're rubbish at sitting still." 

Despite her cheery words, the Doctor could see the slight signs of fear in Yaz's features. 

"Morning love," Najia's voice said from behind them, her bedroom door clicking shut gently. "Morning Doctor." 

"Morning," the Doctor and Yaz said in unison. 

"Kettle's just boiled," Yaz added, knowing that her mum would want a cup of tea. "I've got to head off to work in a bit." 

"Okay love," Najia replied, moving towards the kettle. Humans loved their routines, and the morning caffeinated beverage was one of their favourites. Even in her current state, the Doctor couldn't help observing them. "Have you showered yet?" 

"Yes," Yaz replied, "bathroom is free if you guys need it." 

That was another of their routines: managing a single bathroom between four - now five - of them. The Doctor had never realised how much she had taken the TARDIS's bathroom generation for granted, especially now she was a woman and seemed to need the toilet every five seconds. 

"I should probably go and get ready," Yaz added after a moment, standing up and taking her cup of tea with her. "You guys will be alright, won't you?" she asked again. The Doctor paused for a moment, trying to think if there was anything else she could say to persuade her. 

"We'll be fine!" Najia said, taking a seat on the other sofa and pulling a blanket around her. "I'm going to do some yoga in a minute before the lazy-bones wake up. Why don't you join me, it could be a laugh and it's great for relaxing?" she asked the Doctor. 

Yoga, yeah she had done yoga before. Not in this body, admittedly, and not for a few hundred years. Maybe a thousand. She couldn't really remember. But it was just moving your body, how hard could it be? 

"I'll give it a go," the Doctor agreed, painfully aware that she usually managed to sound more enthusiastic about trying new things. And she was, but this new body was taking her a little longer to get used to and yoga usually seemed to involve weird positions with not many clothes on. At least when people in gyms did it. Gyms, she shuddered at the thought. "I don't have anything else to wear though." 

"You'll be fine in what you've got on," Najia reassured her, "I normally just wear a t-shirt and leggings anyway." 

At least she hadn't offered to lend her any clothes. 

"You can borrow my yoga mat," Yaz called from the doorway to her room. 

"Then I guess that's settled," the Doctor said, reassuring herself that it would be alright. Maybe it would be a way to get to know Najia more, and she had to admit that her muscles were getting stiff from all this sitting around. Some stretching would be good. 

"Right, I'm off," Yaz said a few minutes later, coming out of her room dressed in her police uniform. 

Najia and the Doctor were still sat on the sofa, the former almost finished with her cup of tea. They had the news on the TV but none of them was really listening. The pandemic was almost becoming their backdrop to normal life. 

"Have a good day, love," Najia said, smiling at Yaz as she picked up her bag and double-checked that she had her phone. 

"See you later, Yaz."

"Stay safe," Yaz said back to them before shutting the door. 

_Stay safe._ That was what everyone kept saying to each other, as though a constant reminder would alter their chances. People were scared of losing the people they loved, and the Doctor was no stranger to that.

Najia slumped a little bit when Yaz left, staring out of the window and tracking her progress down the deserted street. 

"She'll be okay," the Doctor said, unsure of whether her attempts to comfort would be well received. She had let a lot go when she regenerated this time, and some of her social skills seemed to have gone with it. But she had always been good in a crisis, and she was always willing to try. 

"I know," Najia sighed, "but I worry." 

"Me too," the Doctor agreed softly. "I wish I could take her somewhere safe."

Najia gave her a long look, and the Doctor wondered how much she knew about the trips that Yaz took with her. Surely if they staying in lockdown much longer it would come up. Either way, Najia seemed to trust her and understand that she cared about Yaz. 

"Would she go, though," Najia asked after a moment, "if you asked her today? Would she leave everything behind so that she'd be safe?"

The Doctor didn't answer straight away. She thought about Yaz, the bright passionate young woman who wanted to help the people around her. Yaz, the girl who had been helped by the police before and was now taking up that mantle. Yaz who had walked through a portal knowing she probably wouldn't come back to save the Doctor from the burning remains of her old home. 

"No," she said, "Yaz wouldn't leave now. No matter how much she might want to." 

"I love her for that," Najia said, "but sometimes I wish it wasn't true. Not sure where you would run to these days anyway," she added, lightening the mood with a chuckle, "there's nowhere on Earth that isn't part of this mess." 

The Doctor could have sworn Najia winked. She definitely knew more than she was letting on. 

"Right," Najia declared, putting her cup down and swiftly walking across the room to grab two yoga mats from the corner. "I'll put a video on Youtube so we can follow that. We should just do this thing, and then we can have another cup of tea." 

"With a custard cream?" the Doctor asked excitedly. Yaz had rationed them after the first few days when it became apparent that the Doctor would quickly run out. 

"It's six in the morning," Najia sighed, "but I guess you can have a custard cream. I won't tell Yaz if you don't." 

"Thanks Yaz's mum!" the Doctor said, beaming and practically running for the mat while Najia put the video on the TV.

They pushed the coffee table out of the way and laid out the mats facing the TV, Najia adjusting them until they were the right distance apart. She pressed play on the video and the Doctor tried her best to focus. 

She tried to follow the instructions, and at the beginning it was going okay. She could put her hands in the air above her head, and she could bend over to reach for her toes. That wasn't that hard. Then it got a bit more complicated. 

"It's a downward facing dog," Najia said when the Doctor got stuck the first time. The Doctor wasn't quite sure what a dog had to do with anything. The Khan's didn't even have a dog. 

She scrunched her nose up in confusion and Najia stood up to help her. 

"Do you mind?" Najia asked, gesturing towards her hips to ask permission to adjust them. 

The Doctor hesitated for a moment, but then nodded. 

"You need to raise your hips up higher," Najia explained gently, "like this." 

The Doctor had to admit that it was better like that. 

They carried on for the rest of the practise mostly in silence, Najia occasionally helping out. The Doctor found the instructor's voice soothing, and for once she didn't feel the need to fill any silences with the thoughts flooding her brain. In fact, the flood was more of a trickle, a sense of calm coming over her while she focused on the movements. 

She wasn't particularly _good_ at the yoga - her bones clicking and her lefts and rights getting all jumbled up - but she could see why Najia liked it. It was soothing. 

"You did good," Najia told her when they were done, finishing with a relaxation that nearly sent the Doctor to sleep. "Especially if you haven't done it before. We can do it again tomorrow?" 

The Doctor found herself nodding. Morning yoga with Yaz's mum. Brilliant. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Let me know if there's anything you want me to write about.
> 
> Today (29th March) is my birthday and it's been a weird one in lockdown but it's going okay so far.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yaz and the Doctor discuss some of what happened to the Doctor and then realise that hugging is great.  
> There isn't really a plot to this chapter, I was having a bad day and I wasn't sure what to write.

"Why do you have two heartbeats?" Yas asked that evening, about an hour after she returned from work. 

Yaz's hair was still wet in places from her shower and it was seeping into the Doctor's borrowed pyjama shirt as she rested against her on the sofa. 

"Because I have two hearts," the Doctor answered, absent-mindedly running her fingers through Yaz's hair and untangling the knots. She had missed her while she was at work but she was here now. She was here and safe and warm against the Doctor's chest. 

"That's kinda awesome," Yaz said, changing the channel on the TV neither of them were really watching. 

"Thanks," the Doctor said, "I think." 

"Sorry, that's a weird thing to say."

"No, it's alright," the Doctor reassured her. "It usually confuses humans. I look so similar to you lot that sometimes you forget I'm not human. And having two hearts is a pretty big change from that."

"Do all of your race look like humans?" Yaz asked, and the Doctor flinched slightly at the question. She knew Yaz wasn't trying to be insensitive, but this was still a touchy subject for her and her first instinct was to run away or change the subject. "The Master did."

"Yeah," the Doctor sighed, "he did." 

Neither of them spoke for a moment, the Doctor trying to figure out how to start explaining what had happened out of nowhere. Yaz looked up at her, and the Doctor could see the moment when Yaz decided she should change the subject and went to open her mouth to talk. She cut her off before she could. She needed to talk about this and now was as good a time as any. She literally couldn't run away. 

"I'm not a Time Lord," she blurted out. "I'm not the same race as the Master." 

"What?" Yaz asked, clearly confused. She sat up and the Doctor immediately missed the warmth from her chest and the comfort of her fingers stroking Yaz's hair. "You said you were?" 

"I thought I was," she said, then took a deep breath. "turns out there is a lot of my past that I didn't remember."

"What, like a few years? When you were a kid?" Yaz asked. "Were your parents not who you thought they were?" 

Classic Yaz, always full of questions. If it was anyone else she would shrink away, but this was Yaz. She could trust Yaz. 

"More like a few lifetimes. Or lots of lifetimes," she added, "I don't really know. They found me on a planet and took me in, experimented on me." Her voice cracked, but she tried to keep going. "They found the part of my genetics that makes me regenerate and implanted it into themselves. They made the Time Lords from me. and then wiped my memory so I would forget."

"Wow," Yaz breathed a moment later, sighing loudly. "That's awful." 

Yaz stared at the Doctor and for a few seconds, the Doctor wasn't sure what would happen next. Maybe she had been wrong to just unload all of that on her friend, especially with everything they were already dealing with. But then Yaz leant forward, wrapping her arms around the Doctor and pulling her into a hug. The Doctor wriggled for a moment before giving in and hugging Yaz tightly back. 

"Did you only just find out about it?" Yaz asked quietly a moment later. 

"Yeah," the Doctor answered, "on Gallifrey. The Master showed me."

"To try and hurt you?" Yaz asked. 

"To be honest I'm never really sure with him."

"Why didn't you mention it earlier?" Yas asked.

"I was in the prison for a while," the Doctor explained, "and then when we did get back this pandemic was happening and everyone was scared. And I was tired, and you were tired, and you know I'm rubbish at talking about myself anyway. I didn't know how to bring it up."

"Well you've brought it up now," Yaz said, "and I'm glad you did. That was really brave of you." 

"Thanks Yaz," the Doctor said, smiling for what felt like the first time in days. "Why haven't we hugged before? You give good hugs." 

Yaz laughed, "I'm glad you like my hugs. It would be a bit awkward if you didn't." 

"But why didn't we before?" the Doctor asked again, trying to flash her mind back to all the times where it might have happened. She hadn't been much of a hugger lately, but maybe she should have been. 

"Honestly?" Yaz asked, and the Doctor nodded, "you didn't look like you would be comfortable with a hug most of the time and I didn't want to scare you off. Not everyone likes hugs." 

"Do you like hugs?" the Doctor asked. 

"With you, always," Yaz said, and then blushed when she realised what that sounded like. "Generally yeah," she added quickly, "as long as I know the person I'm hugging. Some people are a bit creepy with them." 

"Can we hug more often?" the Doctor asked quietly, hoping that she wasn't being weird asking. She was reassured when Yaz beamed back at her. 

"Of course we can!" she said, going in for another hug as though to prove her point. "Especially at the minute when our hugs are limited to the people we are in lockdown with. I'll take all the hugs I can get."

"I'm not sure I want to hug Sonja or Hakim," the Doctor added, "maybe Najia. I've hugged Najia before." 

Yaz laughed, "You don't have to hug them if you don't want to," she explained, "and Sonya doesn't hug people unless she's really tired or really upset. She thinks it isn't cool." 

"Is that a teenage thing?" the Doctor asked. She didn't usually hang around with teenagers. They were even more unpredictable than adults and they seemed to think that everything that was wholesome and fun was stupid. 

"Probably," Yaz laughed. "But she didn't like hugs much when she was a kid either, so maybe it's just her." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote most of this the other day thinking I would add some more but I think I want to leave this chapter here. Hope you enjoyed


	5. Getting Outside (part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor is still struggling with the isolation and Najia encourages her to go outside for her daily walk.

Najia sighed and was greeted by a now-familiar sight as she left her bedroom. The Doctor was sprawled out on the sofa, awake but barely moving, watching the news on the rolling channel. It was too early for the news. She didn't want to hear about the deaths and the panic, especially not before she had drunk her first cup of tea.

"Morning," the Doctor mumbled from the sofa as Najia filled up the kettle. She sounded even more despondent today than she had the day before, and from what she had seen of the Doctor it was a new low. 

"Morning," Najia replied as cheerily as she could muster, "did you get any sleep?" She knew she shouldn't mother the Doctor - she didn't even know how old the woman was - but to be completely honest she looked like she needed a mother and Najia was the best that she had. 

"I don't really sleep," the Doctor said, finding a piece of custard cream in the crease of her shirt and popping it into her mouth. 

Najia couldn't even find the energy to complain about the biscuit crumbs that she now noticed scattered all over the sofa. 

"Did you get up to anything interesting then?" Najia asked. "Watch anything good? Yaz was up earlier wasn't she?" Maybe if she kept asking her questions she would reply to one of them.

"I've been watching the news," the Doctor offered up. "And yeah, Yaz left for work a few hours ago." Najia would have had to be blind not to notice how sad that made the Doctor look. She could relate to that. Knowing that Yaz was out there, unprotected and at risk? That hurt. But there was nothing she could do about it. Yaz wasn't going to give up policing and Najia wasn't sure she would be right to make her. What she could do, however, was try and look after the Doctor so that Yaz had one less thing to worry about. 

"You been watching that all night?" she asked the Doctor, getting two of her biggest mugs out of the cupboard and making the tea - an unholy amount of sugar in the Doctor's cup.

"Since you lot went to bed, yeah."

"That was hours ago," Najia said, handing the Doctor her tea and sitting down on the sofa that she hadn't claimed. "Did anything important happen, I suppose I should ask." 

The Doctor took a long slurp of her tea before replying, smiling slightly at Najia in thanks. "Not much, just the usual at this point."

No wonder she looked so sad, the usual was pretty awful. 

Najia was about to reply, but Sonya stumbled out of her room and headed for the bathroom. Hakim appeared from their bedroom a second later.

"Did I hear the kettle, love?" Hakim asked.

"Yeah just boiled," Najia replied. 

The Doctor looked down, fumbling with her fingers. 

"Were you ever married?" Najia asked on a whim, realising as soon as she said it that it was overstepping a mark. The Doctor almost flinched back, terror and panic in her eyes. "Sorry, that was inappropriate," she added, "I was just curious, that's all." 

"That's alright," the Doctor squeaked out, the violent red of her cheeks contrasting with her hair. "I have, actually, been married that is. Not for a while though. She... she died. But that's how it goes sometimes. You lose people and you carry them with you and you keep going."

"I'm so sorry," Najia said. So much for cheering her up.

"No, I should talk about her more," the Doctor added quietly. "Her name was River Song, and she was a force of nature..." 

The Doctor kept talking, telling Najia and then Hakim and Sonya all about her wife, and at some point, the TV got flicked off without her noticing. She was more animated than she had been recently, and after her initial sadness she seemed to be enjoying telling them about their adventures together. Not that Najia really understood half of what she was saying, and she wasn't sure she believed the other half. But she was talking, and she had brushed the crumbs off her shirt, and that was a good start. 

"Right, you lot," Najia said when the Doctor went quiet, "I think it's time we all went for a walk. We've been cooped up in this flat for too long." 

"Are you sure that's safe mum?" Sonya asked, "We aren't really meant to go outside." 

"We can go out for one period of exercise a day," Najia told them, knowing that they already knew, "and you lot haven't been out in days. So today, right now in fact, we are going to walk around the block. I won't take no for an answer." 

Sonya and Hakim got up to go and get dressed, clearly having lived with Najia long enough to know when she wasn't messing around. 

"That includes you," Najia chivvied the Doctor, shooing her up from the sofa. 

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," the Doctor said, nervously chewing on her thumb. "You guys should go, but I'll stay here. I'll be fine." 

"What's bothering you?" Najia asked, deciding that cutting to the root of the problem would be best while it was just the two of them. 

"I don't want to catch it," the Doctor admitted quietly, "and I don't want to give it to anyone else. 'Specially not the four of you." 

"It's scary," Najia agreed, "and we will be at more risk if we go outside. But it's really important that we get some exercise." 

"I could exercise here," the Doctor protested, jumping up and down a few times as if to prove her point. "We could do more yoga." 

"You need fresh air and a change of scene, however brief," Najia insisted. "You've been moping the last few days." 

"I worry about Yaz," the Doctor said, "out there at work when we are stuck here. I don't do very well sitting still. I'm more of a doer." 

"I'd noticed," Najia said with a chuckle. "I know going outside is scary," she said again, "but I really think it would be good for all of us." She looked deep into the Doctor's eyes, trying to make her see that this was the right thing to do. At least, she hoped it was the right thing to do. All they could do these days was try and make the best decisions with the information they had. She did know for certain though, that any more time spent cooped up in this flat without a walk was going to drive at least one of them mad. 

"Okay," the Doctor relented a moment later. "But just for half an hour. And we avoid people at all costs." 

"Of course," Najia said, smiling. "Now go and get dressed and put your shoes on." 

" _Yes mum,_ " the Doctor teased, smiling as well. 

Najia could see why she got on so well with Yaz. They were peas in a pod, those two. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to write something about being anxious going outside because people don't always respect the 2m guidelines but then the beginning took longer than I expected so I split it into two parts.   
> Hopefully, the second part will be up soon!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> I'm planning on keeping updating this but we shall see how uni work goes. It's always fun writing a dissertation while your country is in lockdown.  
> But anyway, Doctor Who is bringing me a lot of comfort right now and I want Yaz to hug the Doctor and tell her everything is gonna be alright.  
> Stay safe, and feel free to leave any ideas in the comments!


End file.
